[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2118 Engrossed in House (EH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2118
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To authorize United States participation in the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Securing America From Epidemics
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Due to increasing population and population density,
human mobility, and ecological change, emerging infectious
diseases pose a real and growing threat to global health
security.
(2) While vaccines can be the most effective tools to
protect against infectious disease, the absence of vaccines for
a new or emerging infectious disease with epidemic potential is
a major health security threat globally, posing catastrophic
potential human and economic costs.
(3) The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than
119,960,700 individuals and has killed at least 2,656,822
people worldwide, and it is likely that unreported cases and
deaths are significant.
(4) Even regional outbreaks can have enormous human costs
and substantially disrupt the global economy and cripple
regional economies. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa
killed more than 11,000 and cost $2,800,000,000 in losses in
the affected countries alone.
(5) While the need for vaccines to address emerging
epidemic threats is acute, markets to drive the necessary
development of vaccines to address them--a complex and
expensive undertaking--are very often critically absent. Also
absent are mechanisms to ensure access to those vaccines by
those who need them when they need them.
(6) To address this global vulnerability and the deficit of
political commitment, institutional capacity, and funding, in
2017, several countries and private partners launched the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). CEPI's
mission is to stimulate, finance, and coordinate development of
vaccines for high-priority, epidemic-potential threats in cases
where traditional markets do not exist or cannot create
sufficient demand.
(7) Through funding of partnerships, CEPI seeks to bring
priority vaccines candidates through the end of phase II
clinical trials, as well as support vaccine platforms that can
be rapidly deployed against emerging pathogens.
(8) CEPI supported the manufacturing of the United States-
developed Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during its Phase 1 clinical
trial, and CEPI has initiated at least 12 partnerships to
develop vaccines against COVID-19.
(9) CEPI is co-leading COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the
ACT-Accelerator, which is a global collaboration to quickly
produce and equitably distribute safe and effective vaccines
and therapeutics for COVID-19.
(10) Support for and participation in CEPI is an important
part of the United States own health security and biodefense
and is in the national interest, complementing the work of many
Federal agencies and providing significant value through global
partnership and burden-sharing.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION.
(a) In General.--The United States is hereby authorized to
participate in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
(``Coalition'').
(b) Designation.--The President is authorized to designate an
employee of the relevant Federal department or agency providing the
majority of United States contributions to the Coalition, who should
demonstrate knowledge and experience in the fields of development and
public health, epidemiology, or medicine, to serve--
(1) on the Investors Council of the Coalition; and
(2) if nominated by the President, on the Board of
Directors of the Coalition, as a representative of the United
States.
(c) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report that includes the
following:
(1) The United States planned contributions to the
Coalition and the mechanisms for United States participation in
such Coalition.
(2) The manner and extent to which the United States shall
participate in the governance of the Coalition.
(3) How participation in the Coalition supports relevant
United States Government strategies and programs in health
security and biodefense, including--
(A) the Global Health Security Strategy required by
section 7058(c)(3) of division K of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141);
(B) the applicable revision of the National
Biodefense Strategy required by section 1086 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017
(6 U.S.C. 104); and
(C) any other relevant decision-making process for
policy, planning, and spending in global health
security, biodefense, or vaccine and medical
countermeasures research and development.
(d) United States Contributions.--Amounts authorized to be
appropriated under chapters 1 and 10 of part I and chapter 4 of part II
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) are
authorized to be made available for United States contributions to the
Coalition.
(e) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate.
Passed the House of Representatives July 20, 2021.
Attest:
Clerk.
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2118
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To authorize United States participation in the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations, and for other purposes.